Explore the Era

Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.

Robert GrahamArtist

Robert Graham in the 1960s. Image courtesy of the Robert Graham Estate

Robert Graham (1938–2008) was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and moved to California in the early 1960s to attend San Jose State University and the San Francisco Art Institute. While Graham was a sculptor who used traditional materials (clay, wax, and bronze) and traditional subjects (the nude human figure), his works from the late 1960s and early 1970s confronted the inherent voyeurism of art-viewing. He placed tiny wax figures engaged in sensual poses inside miniature architectural spaces, which required the viewer to bend down and peer in like a peeping tom.